[ARC5] [Milsurplus] Duracell Coppertop batteries and other things

[spr at earthlink.net]

My policy is to buy electrolytics only from one of these manufacturers:

Nichicon
Panasonic
United Chemi-con

all of which are Japanese.I prefer Nichicon because their catalog is easy to use. also, the first capacitor after the rectifier in a power supply carries a larege riple current--about 3 times teh DC current--so watch out for ripple current ratings.

In particular, the input ca in many '30s radios is 10 uF, but currently made 10 uF 450V electrolytics are so small that they have inadequate ripple current ratings.  You can, however, buy for less than $5 each 10 uF Mylar caps,and that's what I use.

FWIW,

Scott Robinson

-----Original Message-----
From: <mstangelo at comcast.net>
Sent: Jan 8, 2023 11:17 AM
To: Kenneth G. Gordon <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>, <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [ARC5] [Milsurplus] Duracell Coppertop batteries and other things

I remember the era.

I bought some name brand electrolytics from Digi-Key. Years later I received a notice about a class action suit against the manufacturer with instructions on how to join the lawsuit. I didn't have any issues with the caps and just spent a couple of dollars so I didn't bother to replay.

I wondered what happened to that lawsuit? If I find the notice I may follow up.

Mike N2MS

> On 01/08/2023 1:15 PM Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:
>
>

> >
> > --Tom
>
> I don't know if anyone or everyone here remembers the HUGE problems we had a number of
> years ago with small electrolytic capacitors used in computers and peripherals, but it was
> REALLY horrendous!
>
> Some chinese fellow worked for awhile at a well-known Japanese manufacturer of
> electrolytic capacitors, and stole their proprietory forumla for the electrolyte.....except that he
> didn't get the entire formula.
>
> Then he quit, went back to china, and somehow convinced chinese manufacturers to use his
> stolen formula to make tens of millions of those small electrolytic caps used on computer
> motherboards, peripherals, and power supplies, and since they were cheaper than the better
> ones made in Japan, convinced even "high-end" makers of motherboards, like IBM (before
> they sold their computer division to china) to install them in almost everything
> computer-related made in the U.S.A.
>
> VERY shortly after those things were built, the chinese capacitors failed, some
> catastrophically, others a bit more slowly, and caused a HUGE problem with defective
> motherboards, etc.
>
> We compiuter techs had considerable difficulty for some time keeping up with replacing
> motherboards, and other crap.
>
> Some few of us learned quite early on what to look for and how to replace the caps.
>
> Although I was wary of chinese-made stuff before this, I have never trusted anything made in
> china since then.
>
> Ken W7EKB
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